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Interview
A highly educated woman, Inshirah is a Syrian immigrant who has seen her share of difficulty in Syria and the United States. In the interview, Inshirah discusses her decades long struggle with her identity and finding her voice. Inshirah also discusses the lives of her children in the United States, including her hopes for her sons and daughters, as well as her struggle to connect with her children. Inshirah contemplates the current Syrian revolution that has affected so many Syrian people, some of them her own family.
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Interview
This interview was conducted with “Nadia”, an Indian born United States citizen. Nadia provides valuable insight on her identity, her desire to come to America, her role of being both a Muslim and an American. This interview sheds light on assimilation while maintaining individual identity.
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Interview
As a first generation immigrant from Algeria, Leena grew up in a smaller community with her time split between life in France where her Christian mother lived and Algeria where her Muslim father lived. In her religion the children always take the religion of their father, so she herself grew up Muslim. Her marriage was arranged and had three children, and moved from Algeria with her daughter to Milwaukee Wisconsin where her father lived. She experienced some adjusting to living in the United States, however with her families support she was able to learn English and decided to stay. She has her green card and is hoping to gain citizenship soon so that her husband and two other children can come to live with her. It should be noted that there is also a translator who is present within the interview and occasionally explains Arabic words to myself as that I have no understanding of Arabic, and my interviewee felt limited by her understanding of some English vocabulary. The translator was arranged by my interviewee and helped me by translating some terminology exclusive to the Arabic language, and vice versa.
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Interview
The respondent shared the adaptations the local Muslim Community Center had made to adjust to the COVID crisis and the effects this had on congregants. The respondent shared that the Community Center had various outreach projects to address food scarcity and the mental health concerns of congregants, by having specialists come to speak to the community. They also shared the adjustments the school made and the changes to the communal prayer days, particularly the difficulty for the holy days of Ramadan.
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Interview
The interviewee pointed out the way that East/West comparisons came up in stark contrast during the pandemic. She also pointed out their reliance on internet/ apps for connectivity and that many more people were struggling with mental health and loneliness. The interviewee shared their experiences with the anti-racism activism in the Muslim community and pointed out the lack of media attention to Muslim issues and society. The interviewee found that her faith took an internal turn where she spent a lot of time in solitude and isolated prayer. The interviewee has significant concerns for a continuance and the aftermath of the COVID pandemic.
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Interview
The respondent is in his early 60s and was born in Illinois and has spent most of his life and career in an urban area in the Midwest. He recounts most of the impact of COVID-19 relating to his social life, though many of his extra-professional engagements, which include statewide interfaith dialogue and keeping in contact with various religious communities, moved easily to an online format. During the pandemic, this sustained contact with various religious communities and authorities meant informing his own local Islamic center and Muslim community of updated safety guidelines for religious gatherings and worship. Social interactions were a big part of this respondent’s life pre-pandemic, and while he has adapted especially in terms of technology in the realms of profession and religion, the lack of social interaction, especially when it came to family, has been an especially salient part of his COVID experience.
Respondent has strong beliefs about social justice: Muslim communities have to work with other faith communities and any other willing partners, to stand up for social justice. He also advocates for people getting to know each other on a grassroots basis – to counteract the hatred that is so easy to maybe come to pass when somebody doesn’t know someone, and then they’re just vilified by others or viewed by people as the ‘other’.
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Interview
The respondent is a Bangladeshi-American woman in her mid-50s who was born in Bangladesh and has worked as a physician for years in the United States. She lives in the mid-West with her husband and has two children, one of whom is an adult in college. In the interview, the respondent shared about her experience with COVID-19 as causing a lot of change, both positive and negative. One of the biggest positives was the virtual Zoom and FaceTime platforms, which empowered the respondent to create an online Bangladeshi language learning class for children across the nation. The face-to-face contact virtually was important to respondent, but even though she could attend funerals and other significant events over virtual platforms, it wasn’t a full substitute for personal contact, especially during times of grief and healing. This lack of social contact was one of the biggest negatives for respondent, along with her and her husband’s high risk as physicians, and the anxiety that came with their frontline work. Between increased work hours and her online initiative, community religious events were not as salient in this respondent’s life, but individual spirituality and faith still remained important for her.
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Interview
The respondent is an Imam. Imams have the unique experience of supporting their fellow Muslim community members in many ways. This participant, a father of two, personally felt relatively unscathed by the harsh effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. However, he has aided and counseled his Muslim community members through the hardships they have faced on matters of financial strain, grief, social isolation, and more. Through all of the challenges his community members present, this participant has emphasized the strength of faith and advocated for the need for proper mental healthcare. He is eager and optimistic for a return back to “normal,” especially thanks to vaccinations and successful outcomes of guideline-following, but he certainly knows that we face certainty in the coming months and years.
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Interview
The respondent is an Arab-American male who was born in the United States. He is married and has one child just over a year old. He emphasized desire for unity across religious backgrounds and how this could contribute to the betterment of addressing racial issues. Stated to have a large interest in the topics of social justice and demonstrated a larger involvement and interest in how not only the recent social justice movements, but COVID-19 pandemic have impacted the ways that individuals are seen and can affect change. Respondent supported that the Muslim has and is one of inclusivity and that, as such, its followers should support inclusivity and multiculturalism in their own lives. He also suggested that Muslims, Imams and other religious leaders should speak out and comfort the people who are getting discriminated against. Knowledge and teaching are needed, especially teaching the younger generation how important it is to judge somebody by their heart and not by their religion or race. He also believes that the Muslim, Christian, and Jewish communities should be working with one another.
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Interview
This transcript is focused on how this participant has adjusted his life during the COVID-19 pandemic. He has begun working from home, spending more time with his family, and has been able to rely on his religion to help him through this time. He has been able to communicate with friends and family through apps focused on video and/or audio communication. He has also been able to connect with his faith through having more time to read and watch videos connecting him and his family closer to the scripture. He also touched on how social justice issues should be a focus within the Muslim community and how his generation should contribute to this focus – that it’s his generation’s duty to get on boards of mosques so that they can play a role in educating the members about social justice. He sees a generational gap in awareness of social justice issues and actions that should be taken to promote social justice. He also presented a thoughtful and perceptive analysis of the generational differences regarding social justice.
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Interview
The COVID-19 pandemic has affected U.S. Muslims, even in ways that may have not been foreseeable at the beginning of the crisis. This participant has had the fortune of being financially secure throughout the pandemic but has missed out on visiting family both states and countries away. Though this participant was not a regular in-person attendee of her mosque anyway before the pandemic hit, she has noticed the wider spread impact on her religious community. Tenets of Islam, including the idea that God would not give us anything we could not handle, have been a source of strength. Finally, spending extra time with her infant son has been a silver lining in an otherwise difficult situation. Respondent recommends that Imams and other religious leaders work more on educating the community around social justice issues that are occurring around the nation or around the world or in their own community. She sees a generational gap in awareness of social justice issues and actions that should be taken to promote social justice.
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Interview
The respondent is a Palestinian-American woman, 32 years of age, who grew up in the Midwestern U.S. She now lives in Virginia with her husband and three daughters who are all of school age. In the interview, the respondent shared about her experience with COVID-19 as causing a lot of change, both positive and negative. Some of the less desirable outcomes of the pandemic have included isolation from family and friends especially during Ramadan season, changing from her job as a preschool teacher to an at-home school-teacher for several children, including her own (there were positive aspects to this change, as well, as she is still doing what she loves to do). She describes giving to others in many ways, like by dropping off food for many people on their doorstep, being a “therapist” to so many people on the phone, making worksheets for kids of friends. Positive outcomes from the pandemic have included the respondent drawing closer to her faith, spending more family time together, her children learning more effectively in their online Islamic studies classes than they did in-person over the last five years, and connecting with geographically-distant family more often. Also, she has been able to teach her kids about being active in social justice initiatives like Black Lives Matter, which she and her family, as well as her mosque and nearby Islamic centers, have been active in supporting both theologically and by showing up.
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Interview
Yasmine is a 26-year old graduate with a bachelors in sociology from University Wisconsin Milwaukee. Her real passion though is makeup. She is now a makeup artist in Milwaukee, and is part of the female art collective Fanana Banana, formed for Muslim and minority artists. She was born in Arlington, Virginia before her family moved to Milwaukee, Wisconsin. She identifies as Sudanese American although she has never been to Sudan. She never grew up particularly religious but has always spent her life in Muslim communities. Only in the past two years has she really begun to embrace and grow in her Muslim identity. She describes herself as the strongest person she knows and is proud to say that she is growing each day. Though she is strong, she contributes her strength to the racism she has faced not only in American society but in her Muslim community as well. Although not from Sudan herself, she gains her strength from the people she tries to empower back home in Sudan through organized protests and raising awareness. Her connection to her homeland is rooted in her fight for Sudanese and Muslim people both in Sudan and America.
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Interview
Mr. Sameer Ali is a 2014 college graduate of Stanford University. He is an Imam and Chaplain at Marquette University. He is from India but grew up in New Jersey where most of his family still resides today. Growing up with two siblings, Mr. Ali identifies mostly as American and acknowledges that people culturally similar have different experiences. When not serving as a Chaplain, Mr. Ali serves as an Imam where his duties include delivering sermons, counseling, performing religious rituals, and being available as a pastoral minister to his community. At his Mosque, Mr. Ali serves to make participation easy for all by providing wheelchair accessibility to the disabled and aims to be open and accepting to all who come to worship. To those experiencing hardships or relationship struggles, Mr. Ali makes time to sit down and listen to his people. It is important to him to meet the spiritual and emotional needs of his community members. Mr. Ali is proud that America is a country based on immigrants and is a nation built on preserving the liberty of those with unique religions and countries.
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Interview
Rami Mardini is a 19 year old college student at Marquette University in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. He was born in the United States; his mother migrated to the U.S. and when Rami was born, they shortly moved back to Syria to reunite with the rest of their family. He identifies as a Syrian-American with strong ties to his homeland of Syria, where a lot of his family still resides. With the war in Syria, Rami experienced many hardships that exist hand in hand with conflict, and had immense fear growing up in a country torn by war. Rami experienced bombings outside of his high school, and explains how terror became a normal part of his everyday life. He came to the United States with his triplet sisters, his grandmother, and his grandfather in order to advance his education with the intent of attending medical school and becoming a doctor. His parents stayed in Syria, and later joined him in the U.S. two years later.
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Interview
Nylah Ali is a 19 year old student at Marquette University. While she was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, she identifies strongly as a Palestinian American as she grew up in Palestine from the age of four to nine. She also identifies as a first generation American although her mother was raised in California and Hawaii. Since living in Milwaukee, from the age of nine, Nylah Ali has connected strongly with her community and religion, as she takes time work for her local mosque. Although Nylah Ali has experienced occasional instances of feeling like an outcast compared to the average American due to her religion in the United States, she explains that overall being Muslim helps her feel empowered. Nylah Ali also discusses the importance of tradition, specifically in terms of family and marriage, and what it means to her.
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Interview
Nadia Malik, a Marquette University student in biomedical sciences discusses her experience as a Muslim American woman in today’s society. She is second generation, with both other parents being immigrants from Pakistan at a young age. Having moved to multiple states throughout her life, she has gotten to experience multiple Muslim communities across America. Within the interview, we got onto topics that really put into perspective how Americans view Muslims. Through her experiences with racism and discrimination, she tells how she led a very normal life despite what people who hold prejudice may think. Within these experiences, she weaved in the great service work she has done, which is rooted in her firsthand beliefs; helping her brother with down syndrome. She hopes to continue her passion for helping people in her future career and has the full intention to leave her mark on the world.
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Interview
Maaz Ahmed is a nineteen-year-old who attends Marquette University. Maaz identifies as Muslim but is unsure about his religion now, or how much he wants to be involved with it, causing Maaz to have issues in identity in relation to religion and culture. Maaz has traditional parents so conflicts arise when he does not follow his religious practices that his parents expect from him, especially with the career path he is choosing because of a generational gap. Maaz has felt segregated because of how he identifies as a Muslim especially in a predominantly white school and with the major he has chosen which adds to the feeling of division. Although Maaz feels segregated at times being a Muslim and identifying as Queer, he has not felt threatened by the people who discriminate against his culture and identity.
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Interview
Lebron is a 21 year old college student currently studying at Marquette University. He was born and raised in Milwaukee, Wisconsin but spent time as a preteen studying in Amman, Jordan. His parents expressed the importance of interacting with his religion and language more intimately, which ultimately led them to decide to temporarily move to Amman. Due to the growing tension within Syria, it was difficult for his family to visit or even spend long periods of time in his homeland. Lebron has a very strong sense of nationality for his culture, family, and homeland. However, growing up in the United States and even living in Jordan presented challenges to his sense of belonging, and it is hard to escape the stereotypes and judgements placed on you based on your religion, race, or even where you were raised.
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Interview
Jabriil is a 21-year-old second generation immigrant and a student at Marquette University who was born in Green Bay, Wisconsin where he has lived all his life. He identifies as an American with Somalian heritage and has had a weak relationship with Islam growing up, despite his father’s strong ties to the Muslim community. However, Jabriil states his upbringing involved many aspects of his father’s homeland and his religion such as, attending services at the mosque with his entire family, eating Somalian food, and dressing in traditional garb for celebrations. Growing up in a mixed family, his mother is Caucasian, Jabriil has felt the complexities of race. Jabriil is grateful of his differences and attributes his appreciation of the Somalian culture and Islam to his father.
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Interview
Charles Daoud is a 59 year old family oriented guy who was originally born in Albany, New York before eventually going to college, fighting in the Army, moving to Iowa, and settling down. Charles identifies himself as an American with Syrian background or heritage. Growing up, Charles spent a lot of his time working and doing things for himself as they weren’t always available for him. His father had immigrated from Syria and worked as a Pathologist and his mother was always busy doing something else. Even though his father was from Syria and that is where the rest of his family is, Charles had only visited a handful of times, but is still in communication with his family.
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Interview
Charles Cassis is a 19-year-old student at the University of Toledo that identifies as a third-generation, Lebanese Eastern Orthodox. He was born in 1999 to his parents, Chuck and Corrine Cassis in Toledo, Ohio. Throughout his life and his parent’s life, food has played a major role in shaping who he is today. Currently, him and his parents run an in-home restaurant, catering to the greater Toledo area. When he is not helping with the family business, he spends his time studying Religious Studies at the University of Toledo or hanging out with friends. Religious studies has always been a main interest of his due to his involvement with his church community and his background. Since he is third generation, he does not have much connection to his homeland, but he is motivated to begin making these connections. With his family being in the United States for so long, he has witnessed less backlash for his heritage. However, when he does come across some resistance, he chooses to educate or ignore and go on with his life.
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Interview
Aseel Tabaza is a Sophomore going to school at Marquette University. She was born and raised in Irbid, Jordan for her whole childhood. Three years ago, she moved to the United States with her family to further her educational. She identifies as a Jordanian and an American. She is not a citizen of the United States but was able to receive her green card because her oldest brother was born in the United States. She identifies with the American culture and has learned how to truly become and feel American. She still has her struggles adjusting to the American way of life and is still trying to find her independence. She feels less of a connection to Islam in the United States but feels more connected to it in Jordan. She hopes to become a citizen and live here permanently after she finishes college.
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Interview
Ayesha Ali is a Muslim-American woman working as a rehabilitation aid at Aurora Health Care. After graduating from Salam School, Ayesha attended University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, graduating with a degree in psychology in May 2015. Ayesha is bi-racial, but primarily defines herself as Muslim. Her father is Greek and Italian, and her mother is African-American and Native American. Both her parents are converts to Islam. When she was 21 she married her husband, who is Pakistani. In her free time, she enjoys learning more about the Pakistani culture and Pashto language.
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Interview
Duha Salim was born in Jordan, but grew up in Puerto Rico before coming to the United States. She identifies as a Muslim American-Palestinian woman, and relates most strongly with Arab culture. Duha Salim considers herself an outsider, because she feels like she cannot advocate for herself, fearing that she will be viewed badly. She feels that she can express her true identity with friends and family. Duha Salim currently works as a DJ and is pursuing higher education at Cardinal Stritch University, where she is studying nursing.